Gavi Arch

The Gavi Arch is a triumphal arch made of white stone built by the family of the same name on the Via Postumia in the first century A.D. It was the monument that welcomed those arriving from the southwest to the outskirts of Verona.

The Arch of the Gavi was the first monument that visitors would have seen when they arrived in Verona in the first century AD along the Via Postumia, the important road connecting Aquileia with Genoa, the very reason for the birth of Verona.
Although it had the same features, the Gavi Arch was not a triumphal arch but a monument celebrating the Gens Gavia, an important and rich family of Verona in the imperial age. It marked the boundary of the new area of urban development in the first century, when the peace and stability of the northern borders had expanded the city outside the original walls, with villas and temples along the Via Postumia. Beyond the Gavi Arch were the cemetery areas.
An inscription engraved on one of the pillars led for centuries to believe that the Arch of the Gavi was the work of the famous architect Vitruvius, although more recent studies have shown that it was simply a homonymy.
In the Middle Ages, the arch was incorporated into the construction of the new city walls, becoming a city gate until, with the entry of Napoleon's army at the end of the 18th century, it was demolished to make access to the city easier. Only in the '30s of the twentieth century, in the general movement of restoration of the city, the Arch of Gavi was rebuilt by assembling the original stones but on the side of Via Postumia, in the meantime become an important artery of the city. Together with the arch, a stretch of via Postumia was also moved, made of slabs of black volcanic stone and with the characteristic grooves for the wheels of Roman carts.

Guided Tours

The Gavi Arch can be admired both in the panoramic bus tour that precedes the guided walking tour of the historic center in the classic tourist itinerary of Verona, and in the guided tour of Verona Romana.